On Pink Shirt Day, Abby Stewart Rocks GREC Auditorium

Mar 08, 2017

On Feb. 22, students at the Granite Ridge Education Centre celebrated Pink Shirt Day, a tradition that began in Canada to help combat bullying in all its forms.

This year, they had help in the person of Abby Stewart, a Holy Cross student who’s making waves in country/country rock circles.

Stewart, whose stage presence and performance savvy goes way beyond her teenage years, seemed right in her element as her 40-minute set just flew by, to the delight of her (mostly younger) audience.

From her opening cover of Maddie & Tae’s Fly and the crowd favourite Burning House, Stewart had her audience’s attention, and that was a good thing, because along with top-tier music, she also had a message — put an end to bullying.

“I haven’t done this in . . . forever,” she said before launching into Taylor Swift’s Mean. “But it fits the day.

“Today is a day we need to stand up against exclusion — any form of cruelty.”

In an interview, Stewart said the message of Pink Shirt Day is “close to my heart” as she’s had experiences in the form of exclusion.

Indeed, her own You Don’t Know That is about those experiences, a song she co-wrote with a friend on Skype.

“And I love the tag line (‘Be Kind’),” she said. “There’s way too much cruelty in this world.”

Even at her young age, Stewart sees the power of music, in a couple of different ways. As such, she has no problems when it comes to music with a message.

“Rock music should be expressed with what you’re feeling,” she said. “And, music can help you through things.

“You put in the ear buds and it can make you feel a lot better . . . I know it does for me.”

And it would seem the same was true for GREC students as well on this day, as Stewart stuck around after the gig, high-fiving and talking with a throng of young fans and admirers.

Stewart was ably backed by Chris Murphy on acoustic guitar and harmony vocals, Lee Casement on bass, Jeff Babcock on drums, and Matt Baetz on electric guitar